Among Us (Onder ons)

Rifka Lodeizen, Dagmara Bak and Guy Clemens in "Among Us." A Cineart release of a Lemming Film presentation and production, in association with Bos. (International sales: Elle Driver, Paris.) Produced by Leontine Petit, Joost de Vries. Executive producers, Derk-Jan Warrink, Marleen Slot. Directed by Marco van Geffen. Screenplay, Jolein Laarman, van Geffen.With: Dagmara Bak, Natalia Rybicka, Rifka Lodeizen, Guy Clemens, Reinout Bussemaker. (Polish, English, Dutch dialogue)Dutch suburbia reps a hostile environment for a timid Polish au pair in the tripartite drama "Among Us," the intriguing but not fully realized directorial debut of screenwriter Marco van Geffen ("Schnitzel Paradise," "The President"). Almost the polar opposite of the broad-as-a-barndoor comedies he's written in the past, pic's arty attention to quotidian detail, clammy claustrophobia and a marginalized femme protag clearly betray the influence of co-scribe Jolein Laarman ("Joy," "Katia's Sister"). Nov. 10 release won't break the bank locally, but "Us" should continue to be among fest programmers' choices after premieres at Locarno and Toronto. Shy and nondescript Ewa (Dagmara Bak) has come to the Netherlands to work for Ilse (Rifka Lodeizen) and Peter (Guy Clemens), an average middle-class couple who have a second child on the way. There's talk of a rapist on the loose, which seems to scare Ewa, who finds only a little solace in a mutually beneficial friendship with the bubbly and sexy Aga (Natalia Rybicka), another lonely Polish au pair in the same neighborhood. Not much of a communicator and severely homesick, Ewa quickly gets on the nerves of the pregnant Ilse, while Peter tries to calm things down by focusing on the quality of her work and the good rapport she has with their toddler son. Setup is simple enough, though from the title and the worrying opening shot, which pans down from the sky to the pitch-black water of a Dutch stream, it's clear that something ominous will happen sooner or later in this perfectly laid out -- if eternally overcast -- suburban paradise. To ramp up the tension and keep some important plot points initially under wraps, pic is divided into three overlapping parts that show the events first from the p.o.v. of Ilse and Peter, then of Aga and, finally, of Ewa. But instead of creating suspense or offering insight into the reasons for each character's behavior, the narrative gimmick cuts up not only the story's natural flow but also the aud's ability to sympathize with Ewa; when, some 45 minutes in, she gets to have her say, her borderline incomprehensible actions have already been seen twice. And the final third of the pic, though it builds to a greater understanding of what has come before, doesn't offer the kind of resolution that justifies a story auds have essentially been told three times. That said, van Geffen does ensure that a troubling undercurrent keeps bubbling just beneath the surface throughout, and the final image is quietly chilling. Acting is down-to-earth and naturalistic, while Ton Peters' sleek lensing, in cool colors, highlights the disturbingly perfect side of suburban living. Minimalist score is sparingly used and in keeping with the pic's general no-frills approach. Per press notes, "Among Us" is intended to be van Geffen's first film in a trilogy called "The Drama of the Happy Family."Camera (color, widescreen), Ton Peters; editor, Peter Alderliesten; music, Chrisnanne Wiegel, Melcher Meirmans, Merlijn Snitker; production designer, Elsje de Bruijn, Jorien Sont; costume designer, Monica Petit; sound (Dolby Digital), Pepijn Aben. Reviewed at Locarno Film Festival (competing), Aug. 9, 2011. (In Toronto Film Festival -- Discovery; Netherlands Film Festival.) Running time: 84 MIN. Contact Justin Chang at justin.chang@variety.com

Hurricane Irene Rules the Airwaves

Hurricane Irene Hurricane Irene starred because the greatest factor on tv with the weekend, because the broadcasts systems, cable news channels, local stations across the Eastern Seaboard and, obviously, The Elements Funnel devoted hrs upon hrs to since the storm. TV shops also used various platforms to help individuals track Irene and get ready for any emergency. Poynter's Romanesko site interviewed what it really considered the very best, singling the Weather Funnel, MSNBC and also the New York coast's ABC affiliate, WCTI-TV, as one of the better. Hurricane Irene suspends One Tree Hill production The Elements Funnel anticipated a large spike in rankings. Nielsen figures demonstrated the fundamental-cable saw a 29 percent rise in average audiences daily throughout the large blizzard that walloped the New England last winter. Adweek cited Weather Funnel Leader Michael J. Kelly as saying: "The concentration of viewership throughout occasions such as this ... people stay tuned and log onto our qualities in amounts that eclipse everyone else in the market.Inch Meanwhile, sandbags were placed round the CBS Broadcast Center in New You are able to, which sits one block in the Hudson River, Charlie Kaye, executive producer of CBS Radio News tweeted having a photo. Catch on the relaxation from the news Local channels pre-empted regular programming during the day with updates on evacuations, flooding and also the storm's other effects - including how everyone was draining grocery shelves and duct-tape home windows. While a lot of the policy could feel overblown, the storm triggered a minimum of three deaths and 800,000 everyone was without electricity by Saturday mid-day. Some two million people also were purchased to evacuate, and international airports and mass transit were shut lower.

Drive-Inspired Sketches by Chromatics, Desire Include Track Listings of Unused Film Score

The musical partnership between director Nicolas Winding Refn and electronic musician Johnny Jewel dates back to Refn’s Bronson, which used a track from Jewel’s group Glass Candy to strike its stylized period feel. For Refn’s latest film, the L.A.-set crime thriller Drive, he turned once more to Jewel to help create an ’80s-tinged pop synth sound — and the inspiration seemed to go both ways, as evidenced by drawings and a full collection of Drive-inspired tracks created by Jewel and his musical collaborators. Two of Jewel’s groups, Chromatics and Desire, have tracks featured on the soundtrack to Drive (“Tick of the Clock” and “Under Your Spell,” respectively). But the score to Drive is largely comprised of compositions by composer Cliff Martinez, built around a handful of mostly electronic tracks that also include Kavinsky’s “Night Call” and College ft. Electric Youth’s “A Real Hero.” “Johnny had scored two specific scenes — one was ‘Tick of the Clock’ which was in the beginning from Chromatics and then there was ‘Under Your Spell’ later on,” Refn told Movieline via telephone earlier today. “Then I had the College song and the Kavinsky song, and I had Cliff Martinez kind of emulate the feel of those sounds and those songs into a score.” Jewel, meanwhile, wound up composing his own Drive-inspired tracks at Refn’s encouragement. These unused score tracks appear to have surfaced as part of a 30-drawing collection of sketches by Chromatics and Desire inspired by scenes from the film; on the blog Primitive Desire, Jewel’s Desire collaborator Megan Louise notes that the songs listed “will be coming out on Johnny Jewel & Nat Walker’s soundtrack project ‘Symmetry’ in the fall.” Full two-part track listing follows, but beware spoilers! 1. Isolation (3:10) Winner Take All (2:42) Death Mask (1:22) Love Theme/Air (2:01) Magic Gardens (1:40) The Family (1:33) Rearview Mirror Pt 1 (0:37) Rearview Mirror Pt 2 (1:04) Irene’s Eyes (3:01) Lady (2:56) The Midnight Sun (1:37) City of Dreams (2:42) Beyond the Rim (2:18) Love Bite (3:40) Driver’s Theme (4:02) Baby (2:35) Bernie’s Theme (1:40) The Nightshift (1:00) Nino’s Death (1:41) Love Theme/Earth (3:27) Fading Away (2:44) Memories Are Forever (1:50) 2. Flashback (2:57) Paradise Lost (0:28) Car Jack (2:50) Behind the Wheel (7:28) End Game (2:21) Murder Motel (4:29) The Crimson Torch (2:43) Fragments (0:43) Strangers (4:03) Music Box (0:43) Paper Chase (3:00) Mr. Midnight (3:28) Shannon’s Death (1:11) Blood Sport (2:26) The Nightshift/Reprise (0:58) Outside Looking In (2:21) Symphony of Light (3:15) All the Faces (2:46) Love Theme/Water (4:14) Echoes of the Mind (6:29) The rest of the drawings are taken from stills from the film, depicting various scenes of Driver (Ryan Gosling), the neighbor he falls for (Carey Mulligan), and the various forces he comes to contend with as he crosses paths with seedy crime bosses and thugs in L.A. They’ve got a charming Etch-a-Sketch quality to them, but what’s most striking is how vividly they capture scenes from the film in spare black and white renderings. Click here to see all 30 of the Drive-inspired sketches, but again, potential spoilers abound, so view with caution. [Primitive Desire]

Im Sog des Bsen

A police detective (Erectile dysfunction Corbin) designated to operate a gay bar with an undercover drug operation will get connected having a gay student hustler (Dane Ritter). Following the student witnesses a murder, the cop provides him an alibi and invites him to remain at his apartment. There a homosexual relationship evolves.

Gerard Depardieu Pees on Carpet of Air France Plane

Gerard Depardieu couldn't wait to visit.our editor recommendsCANNES: Kiefer Sutherland, Gerard Depardieu Join Hannibal's Action-Comedy 'Sleight of Hand' The actor urinated about the carpet of the Air France plane before people Wednesday once the cabin crew requested him to hold back fifteen minutes to make use of the bathrooms. The plane was postponed in Paris, and because of fly to Dublin. "Je veux pisser, je veux pisser," Depardieu, 62, was overheard telling flight family and friends, based on a passenger's recollection on French radio station Europe 1 (through the Connected Press). "The attendant stated 'I'm sorry, you'll need to wait a quarter-hour, [when] we'll be flying. The toilets are locked'," the passenger, Daniele, stated. Rather, Depardieu stated he couldn't wait, unzipped his pants and peed about the carpet before all of the people. "You can tell he'd been consuming," Daniele stated. The plane came back towards the gate and was postponed for 2 hrs as the mess was cleared up. Air France confirmed Depardieu's actions to national TV station TF1, but stated it wasn't sure what type of action it might take from the actor. Depardieu won a Golden Globe best actor award for 1990's Eco-friendly Card. Related Subjects

Riddick 3 Starts Casting

A few character details revealedAfter a few months of teasing and negotiating, it seems that the follow-up to Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick is finally up and running, with casting for what's so-far known simply as Riddick officially underway. And with casting news comes character reveals. In the first round of auditions, director David Twohy and his casting director Anne McCarthy are on the lookout for sexy female mercenary Dahl, smug commander Krone, the undescribed henchman Santana (not Joey, as far as we're aware), and [POSSIBLE SPOILER] Boss Johns, who's the father of the Johns played by Cole Hauser previously, and who's apparently rather keen to learn what happened to his son on Hades. Moviehole have seen a script of undisclosed age and draft, and are saying that Riddick is much more aligned with Pitch Black than Chronicles, making little or no mention of Furya or the (ahem) Underverse, and quickly dispensing with the business that saw Riddick as leader of an army of (ahem) Necromongers at the end of the last film. There's apparently a small role for Vaako, which might mean Karl Urban will be back for a cameo. And if that lot made us reasonably optimistic, we're slightly concerned at the mention of a twelve-year-old Alpha Kid , who has magic powers and shiney eyes like Riddick's.... Vin Diesel is, of course, starring (after a bit of soul searching), and the start-date is currently supposed to be sometime in September. We're rather liking the concept art that Diesel revealed on his Facepage....

John Landis Planning French Horror

Heading to Paris for mystery new projectBurke and Hare came out in the UK aaaages ago, but it's only just arriving in the US. Out on the publicity trail once again, director John Landis has revealed a few sketchy details of his next project, a little monster movie with a Gallic setting. Landis told BD that the film has no title yet, but I'm writing it with Alexandre Gavras and we're shooting it within the next two years in Paris. Pressed for specifics he remained cagey, but it seems the project is already some way along: We know who's gonna star in it, but this is all off the radar right now, so I can't tell you. It's interesting: the cast has to be bilingual because it's being shot in French and English. Alexandre Gavras is the son of the Greek film director Costa-Gavras. The family connection to Landis goes back some years - Costa-Gavras has cameos in Landis' Spies Like Us and The Stupids, as well as in Burke and Hare - but Alexandre has been less prolific than his father, although his 1998 short film Killer of Little Fishes won an award at Brest and was nominated for a Cesar. Prior to Burke and Hare, Landis had contributed a couple of segments to Masters of Horror and worked on some other television, but hadn't actually directed a film since 1998, so it's great to hear he has something new in the works already (even if he doesn't explicitly say he'll be behind the camera). Any bilingual stars you think sound likely? We're going to vote for Julie Delpy, for no other reason than that we like her, and that she should probably atone for An American Werewolf in Paris.

See Neil Patrick Harris, Kal Penn and John Cho in First Image From Harold & Kumar three dimensional Christmas

When the dog times of August — or once-again falling apart economy — perhaps you have lower, here’s a little of cheer to embellish the mid-day: an initial look picture of Neil Patrick Harris, Kal Penn and John Cho within the likely absurd An Extremely Harold & Kumar three dimensional Christmas. Best title since Snakes on the Plane? Check. Photo from the three leads which make the film seem like a stoner version of Babes in Toyland? Make sure. Click to see Christmas come early. If the still looks familiar, you may be a customer to EW playboy printed the look in the pages a few days back. An Extremely Harold & Kumar three dimensional Christmas comes to theaters on November. 4. [via Yahoo!]